Milwaukee officer charged with theft enters not-guilty plea

he Milwaukee police officer charged with stealing cash from a convenience store where he had responded to a burglary call entered a not-guilty plea in court Thursday. Carl V. Howell, 37, appeared in court with his attorney, Michael Steinle. He waived his right to a preliminary hearing before entering the plea. His next court date was set for Feb. 14. Court Commissioner Barry Slagle thanked Howell for "dressing appropriately" for court; Howell was wearing a dark olive suit, with dress shirt and tie. Howell is charged with theft and official misconduct in the Nov. 20 incident at Hopkins Food Mart, at N. 46th St. and Hopkins Ave. According to the criminal complaint, he took about $200 from a drawer the owner had showed him as a spot the burglars missed. A store surveillance camera recorded the theft, according to the complaint.

Illinois Citizens Still Being Arrested For Filming Cops

Illinois citizens are still being arrested for recording cops despite a 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling last year that blocked the enforcement of the law on the grounds that it was unconstitutional.

Following yesterday’s story concerning residents of Naperville who attempted to resist utility workers invading their private property to install so-called ‘smart meters’ – which have been linked with health issues – it emerged that one of the refusniks, Malia “Kim” Bendis, was arrested on attempted eavesdropping charges for recording cops during the incident.

The irony of citizens being arrested for supposedly “eavesdropping” on cops in public where there is no expectation of privacy, while simultaneously the government forcibly installs devices on people’s property that really do eavesdrop on them in total violation of the 4th amendment, is staggering. Remember – this is a state that threatens to send people to prison for life for recording cops.

Bendis filmed her friend’s confrontation with city workers and police but at no time attempted to interfere in their actions. The video clip shows an officer asking Bendis not to film him, an order with which she immediately complies.

However, the Chicago Tribune reports that Bendis was arrested and “Charged with two misdemeanors — attempted eavesdropping and resisting a peace officer.”

The state of Illinois is still directing its cops to enforce a law that has repeatedly been found unconstitutional.

As the PINAC blog notes, “Bendis was charged with misdemeanor eavesdropping which indicates they may have kept the law intact but reduced it to a misdemeanor from a felony. Or more likely means the newspaper wasn’t very clear in their reporting,” adding that the Illinois legislature introduced a “technical change” to the law a day before the incident, but that no one seems to be aware of what exactly the change is.

In May 2012, the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the enforcement of a law that made it a felony to film cops in the state of Illinois. This followed a case involving Illinois resident Michael Allison - who at one point was facing life in jail for recording cops.

“The Illinois eavesdropping statute restricts far more speech than necessary to protect legitimate privacy interests; as applied to the facts alleged here, it likely violates the First Amendment’s free speech and free-press guarantees,” wrote Judge Diane Sykes.

Furthermore, when Cook County State Attorney Anita Alvarez appealed the ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman re-affirmed it. In states all across the country, Americans arrested for filming cops in public have won their cases. In August 2011, the First Circuit Court of Appeals also ruled that it is not illegal for citizens to videotape cops when they are on public duty.

Eavesdropping charges against Illinois resident Tiawanda Moore for recording patrol officers were dropped in August 2011, after a “Criminal Court jury quickly repudiated the prosecution’s case, taking less than an hour to acquit Moore on both eavesdropping counts.”

Despite numerous different courts not only in Illinois but across the United States continually ruling that it is not illegal to record cops in public, Americans continue to be arrested for doing so.

This sets a dangerous new precedent in America’s decline towards an authoritarian state, where laws that have clearly been blocked as unconstitutional are being enforced illegally on a whim for the convenience of cops to abuse the rights of citizens without their actions being documented.

From police misconduct:wo cops was caught on videotape

 New York: A man whose beating by two cops was caught on videotape has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the officers and the city. He spent two days in jail, and the charges were eventually dropped. ow.ly/h3uJn

NYPD Police Brutality filmed in Midwood

Photojournalist Shimon Gifter is preparing to take legal action against the NYPD officer who attempted to arrest him for publicly filming on a Midwood street while a stop-and-frisk action was being conducted.

Photojournalist Shimon Gifter Speaks Out on Avenue M Handcuffing Incident

A seemingly innocent act of news reporting unexpectedly turned into an unsettling encounter with an aggressive NYPD officer last Wednesday on Avenue M in Midwood, when well-known photojournalist Shimon Gifter found himself in handcuffs while filming in the vicinity of a police action.

As Gifter explained in an exclusive interview with the Jewish Voice, he had learned that a disturbance involving at least one cop was taking place on Avenue M and East 16th Street, so he went there to check out what sounded like a news story worthy of coverage. “When I got there, I saw a large crowd, and some people told me that a policeman was trying to control a big fight,” he related. “At first, I only saw one young man being held in a police van, with some cops standing around and talking. But then I saw another young man of distinctly ethnic minority suddenly stopped by some cops and put up against a wall. I started filming the incident, but when one of the policemen told me to stop recording it because the alleged perpetrators were‘juveniles,’ I immediately complied.”

According to Gifter, he shifted gears and started to video the general scenery in front of a nearby store, but another officer suddenly came up to him and accosted him. “After the cop said ‘Give me that – you’re under arrest,’ he grabbed my video camera, slapped police handcuffs on me, pushed me up against a wall, and even took away my phone,” the 38-year-old photojournalist recounted. “I told him that what he was doing was totally illegal – which it is, because a member of the media has the right to film in public – but he didn’t care, and he even purposely deleted all the video files from the camera.”

Gifter explained to the Jewish Voice that the only reason he was not actually placed under arrest was because an onlooker quickly contacted Dominic Scotto, the head of Community Affairs for the local 70th Police Precinct, who ordered the arresting officer to terminate his action and let his prey free. “I never did anything against the law,” Gifter insisted, “even though the officer was trying to incite me to respond to him insultingly so that he could have a truly legitimate reason for arresting me. I went down afterwards to the 70th Precinct to explain the circumstances and file a report– which Officer Scotto had advised me to do – but the commanding officer refused to speak with me.”

The intrepid photojournalist – who has an established reputation for documenting news and events of concern to the local Jewish community – said he subsequently realized that the cops on the scene were most likely conducting a controversial “stop-and-frisk” procedure, and they were thus apprehensive that his recording of their actions could lead to their coming under legal scrutiny.

Gifter told the Jewish Voice he is especially outraged that he has received no support whatsoever from the leadership of the Orthodox Jewish community, citing Assemblyman Dov Hikind as one prime example. “Whenever someone from our community appears to have been mistreated by the police, Hikind takes on the case and makes a lot of noise about it,” he noted. “Yet, for some reason, he has not responded to my pleas for intervention.” Gifter also claims that members of the Shomrim patrol group are in possession of a photo of him being handcuffed and held by the cop, yet are refusing to give him the photo.

“It’s fascinating,” he commented. “I’m getting virtually no assistance from my own community, but the many members of major New York media outlets who know me are backing me up in this case. The fact is that there have been a number of incidents in the past few years where the NYPD harassed reporters and photographers who were just doing their job and covering events out on the street.”

While Gifter spoke with the 70th Precinct’s internal affairs division and was promised that they would investigate the episode, he remains highly doubtful. “I think they’re lying. I don’t think they’re investigating at all,” he said. “They didn’t ask for any of the names of the witnesses – I have at least four – or for any other information.”

The Orthodox photojournalist – who happens to be a grandson of the renowned Torah sage Rav Mordechai Gifter zt”l, the late Rosh Yeshiva of Telshe Yeshiva in Cleveland – has retained an attorney, Mickey Ostreicher, who serves as general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association. The two were scheduled to announce the filing of a lawsuit against the would-be arresting officer on Tuesday. Expressing his determination to press charges and defend his rights, Gifter told the Jewish Voice, “The cop was probably upset because I caught him committing an act (stop-and-frisk) that was just recently declared unconstitutional. Hopefully he will end up being fired for what he did to me.”

according to a federal lawsuit filed, the police have shown a pattern of wrongfully arresting

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: According to a federal lawsuit filed, the police have shown a pattern of wrongfully arresting people who videotaped officers in public. It seeks monetary compensation and confirmation of the public’s right to videotape the police. ow.ly/gVxpU

Video: Matt Hefferon, alleged police brutality victim, convicted of resisting arrest

Last March, we followed the story of Matt Hefferon, who was allegedly shoved by Fort Collins police without provocation -- an incident caught on video. See the clip and our previous coverage below. Nonetheless, Hefferon has been convicted on two counts in what his attorney calls a major miscarriage of justice that could lead to either an appeal or a lawsuit.

"Our opinion is that justice was not served," says Andrea Hall, Hefferon's attorney. "Information the prosecution was allowed to say to jurors in closing arguments we believe was prejudicial. And we were precluded from talking about certain things. Our position was that the police lied."
The incident was sparked by a minor mishap with a pedi-cab in the Old Town Square area of Fort Collins at around 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 25. Police say Hefferon and two friends, Jarvis Gullatt and Josh Cullip, jumped into the vehicle, but it toppled over and its taillight was damaged. Officers say the trio then tried to leave, but they were detained.
As we've reported, the footage begins with a shot of an officer asking the cameraman, "Any questions?" However, he does not attempt to prevent the person taking the video from continuing to record. Meanwhile, on the right side of the frame, a man later identified as Hefferon can be seen speaking to a second officer. Hefferon initially gesticulates with his hands, but he's standing still, more or less, when the second officer jolts him in the chest and shouts, "Get back!"
"Don't push me again!" Hefferon responds, from a position several feet further away from the officer than he'd been seconds earlier.
At that point, the first officer rushes over, grabs the man and says, "You're under arrest."
"For what?" the man wants to know -- and he asks the question repeatedly, even after someone (the officer?) can be faintly heard saying, "Resisting." The man is then told to place his hand on the back of his head even as his arms are being held. His frustrated reply: "I can't!"
At that point, the person with the camera adds his opinion, telling Hefferon not to trip, because he's got the incident on video. The clip ends with the narrator brushing off the second officer's demand for his identification by saying there's no need for him to show it

An officer who was photographed in 2012

Trenton, New Jersey: An officer who was photographed in 2012 allegedly sleeping in his police car lost his gun in the police parking lot. ow.ly/gFlfc